Magnetic door seal



.1953 L. ANDERSON ETAL 2,659,118

MAGNETIC DOOR SEAL Original Filed March 20, 1950 LLOYD L. ANDERSONNATHAN S. WARING- Au'rou mm A'n'onuevs Patented Nov. 17, 1953 MAGNETICDOOR SEAL Lloyd L. Anderson and Nathan S. Waring, Grand Rapids, andAnton W. Korb, Grandville, Mich., assignors to Jervis Corporation, acorporation of Michigan Continuation of application Serial No. 150,748,March 20, 1950. This application June 26, 1952,

Serial No. 295,608

9 Claims. (01. 20-69) This invention relates to a magnetic door closureand seal, of a simple, novel, practical and effective construction. Theinvention has a special utility in connection with doors which should bemaintained, when closed, in a tightly sealed relation against a casing,the entrance opening to which is closed by the door.

This application is a continuation of application Serial No. 150,748,filed March 20, 1950, now abandoned.

In refrigerators, such close sealing m desirable to prevent entrance ofheat or the loss of refrig eration which, if it occurs, requiresadditional expense to maintain the space within the refrigerator as itspro-selected low degree of temp-eraure.

In the present invention, holding and sealing the door closed is bymeans of magnetic attraction. The modern household electric reirigerator uses a metal, usually steel, which is attracted by magneticattraction; and in our invention, the conventional sealing gasket, whichis between the outer edge portions of. the door and a refrigeratorcasing, the entrance opening to which the door closes, is preferablysupplied with permanent magnets which, when the door is closed, are inclose proximity to the outer steel faces at the front of therefrigerator casing, and exert their magnetic forces thereupon tomaintain the door closed and the gasket pressed snugly, in asubstantially perfect sealing'condition, against the refrigeratorcasing.

The door is opened by an outward pull applied to a handle permanentlysecured to the door. With our invention, the amount or quantity of forcewhich must be applied to such. handle to open the door is materiallyreduced, by reason of the novel structure of the gasket which isconstructed, so that it is drawn and pulled loose from the refrigeratorcasing first at one side edge of the gasket and thereafter progressivelyseparated from the refrigerator casing, so that the initial forcerequired is only that needed to. break the magnetic attraction over afraction of the area of the magnetic poles, being analogous to a peelingoff of the gasket rather than a direct outward, entire breaking loose ofthe gasket from the refrigerator casing. The force required in thelatter instance is much more than in the former. Therefore, with ourinvention a greater magnetic force may be used to maintain the doorclosed and sealed, without undue or excessive force being required toopen the door. Our invention is directed to novel and practical struc-55 tures for obtaining the desirable results enumerated and forproducing the invention in a practical, economical form.

An understanding of the invention may be had from the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in whichFig. l is a front elevation of a refrigerator of the type to which ourinvention is applied;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged horizontal section, substantially onthe plane of line 22 of Fig. 1, the door being shown closed;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section, like that in Fig. 2, of the door as itis initially being opened;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section, substantially on the plane of line 44 ofFig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a similar section, substantially on the plane of line 55 ofFig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a transverse section through the gasket used with a slightmodification in the form of the magnets used;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary horizontal section, similar to Fig. 3, showinga modification of structure in connection with the gasket and magnetscarried thereby, with the door shown closed;

Fig. 8, is a slightly different modified form of structure'from thatshown in Fig. '7, in a like sec"- tional view; and

Fig. 9 is a section, like Fig. '7, the door being slightly opened;

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figuresof the drawing.

The refrigerator casing l, and the hinged door 2 thereon at its front,for closing its front entrance opening, are of any usual structure. Thegasket which is between the door at its outer edge portions and at itsinner side, and the front face of the refrigerator casing surroundingthe entrance opening thereto, is shown secured to the door though inpractice the invention will not be departed from should the gasket bereversed in position and secured to the refrigerator casing.

The gasket which extends entirely around the door at its inner side.adjacent its edges, hasa relatively heavy base 3 and an outer leg orside 4 integral with and extending inwardly from the base, an inner legor side 5 normally longer than the side l, and an inner connecting side5 between the outer edge portions of the sides or legs 5 and 5.Integrally formed within the hollow gasket thus made is a channelretainer 1, the edges of the flanges of which are integral with theinner side 8 as shown. Within such retainer a plurality of permanentmagnets 8 are located and held. The magnets are located end to end, andare shown in Fig. 4 as of shallow U-shape and in Fig. 6 as flat; ineither case their opposite poles are so located that they are effectiveto attract the gasket to the metal refrigerator casing. At the outer(opposite the hinges) side of the door, substantially between its upperand lower edges, a manually engageable handle is fixedly secured.

When the door is closed, as in Fig. 2, the base 3 and the inner side 6of the gasket are parallel to each other, as the inner side of the doorparallels the front face of the refrigerator. Thus, the longer leg orside is bent or bowed into the convex form shown in Fig. 2. The magnetsexert their magnetic force upon the steel material of the refrigeratorcasing. The gasket being of a resilient material, such as rubber, willbe drawn into conformity at its engaging side with the outer faces ofthe front vertical sides and upper and lower ends of the refrigeratorcasing around its entrance opening. When the door is opened by a pullupon the handle 9, there is a direct pull upon the shorter leg 4 of thegasket, which is at the outside at the free vertical edge of the door,which will start the gasket separation from the refrigerator casing,first at such outer side, being thereafter followed progressively inwarduntil the longer convex side 5 has straightened out as in Fig. 3.Thereafter, the gasket and the magnets carried thereby are moved. bodilywith the door as the latter is further opened. When the door is closed,the longer inner side 5 is bent into its convex form and the magnets 8are positioned with reference to the casing so as to exert their fullattracting force thereon.

After the gasket at the outer free edge of the door is pulled from thecasing, the magnets at the upper and lower edge of the door areprogressively pulled outwardly and separated; and finally those at theinner side of the door adjacent its vertical hinged edge. It is at thebeginning that the greatest force is required to break the magnetic pullwhich holds the door closed.

In Fig. 6 the magnet 8 is of a solid cross section and not of theshallow U-shape shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the poles of such severalmagnets 8 being at opposite ends. The door may be opened however in thesame manner by substantially peeling the gasket from the front outerface of the refrigerator casing with a less manual force exerted thanwould be required if both of the sides or legs 4 and 5 of the gasketwere of the same length.

In Figs. '7, 8 and 9 the gasket cross section is slightly modified bymaking the sides 4a and 5a of accordion form, the inner side Be at thevertical free edge of the door having a greater length when in a normalfree position than the outer side 4a (see Fig. 9). The magnets 80. alsoare modified in structure, being generally semicircular in crosssection, and the retainers at 7 and 1a therefore are made to correspondand embrace the magnetsat their curved sides; note that the inner sideof the channel (a is open which structure while providing sufficientchannel embrace to retain the magnets in position with respect to thegasket, nevertheless is sometimes of value in assembly and replacement.The opening and closing of the door is the same and the reduction in thepull required to open the door is likewise attained. It is of course tobe understood that the magnets may be of other forms and of differentcross sections without affecting the invention or departing from it.While the magnets are shown in end to end relation, the invention mayalso be embodied by using magnets spaced from each other in the lengthof the asket so as to reduce the number of magnets needed, with aconsequent reduction in expense.

The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be consideredcomprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

We claim:

1. A gasket adapted to be used for sealing a hinged door adjacent itsedges against a casing surrounding an entrance opening closed by thedoor, said gasket comprising an elongated member having an attachingside, spaced generally parallel sides extending therefrom substantiallyat right angles, one of the last-recited sides being definitely widerthan the other, and an additional side integral with and connecting saidnarrower and wider spaced sides, magnets within the gasket at the innerside of said additional side of the gasket, and means to hold saidmagnets against change of position with respect to the gasket, saidgasket structure and said specified mounting thereof providing a sealwhich is pulled loosefirst at one side edge of the gasket-from thesurface against which said gasket sealingly abuts and which seal isthereafter progressively separated from said surface so that the initialforce required is only that needed to break the magnetic attraction overa fraction of the effective area of the magnets, the gasket being peeledoff of said surface, wherefrom a relatively large magnetic force may beused to maintain the seal without excessive force being necessary tobreak said seal.

2. A hollow elongated gasket adapted to be used for sealing between adoor and casing, having four sides in pairs spaced from each other, oneof said sides being adapted to be attached at the inner side of the doorwith the opposed side of the gasket spaced therefrom and normallyoccupying a position in a plane at an acute angle to said attachingside, the remaining sides of the gasket being, one definitely narrowerthan the other. and magnets located lengthwise of the gasket within itaway from said attaching side and against the side spaced therefrom, andmeans integral with the gasket for retaining the magnets in place, saidgasket structure and said specified mounting thereof providing a sealwhich is pulled loosefirst at one side edge of the gasketfrom thesurface against which said gasket sealingly abuts and which seal isthereafter progressively separated from said surface so that the initialforce required is only that needed to break the magnetic attraction overa fraction of the effective area of the magnets, the gasket being peeledoff of said surface, wherefrom a relatively large magnetic force may beused to maintain the seal without excessive force being necessary tobreak said seal.

3. An elongated refrigeration sealing gasket having two generallyparallel, spaced-apart sides one definitely wider than the other, andtwo additional sides extending between the said firstmentioned sides andintegral therewith, said gasket being compressible substantiallyperpendicularly to one of said last-mentioned sides for sealing purposesand said last-mentioned sides being disposed in planes at an acute angleto each other when the gasket is not in sealing compression, one of saidadditional sides being adapted to receive securing means, the other ofsaid additional sides being resiliently and compressibly capable ofefiecting a seal against entrance of heat or escape of refrigeration,said two additional sides being parallel to each other when incompressed sealing position; the wider of said first-mentioned sidesbeing adapted to bulge convexly when the gasket is in said compressedsealing condition, and magnets disposed lengthwise within the gasketadjacent the sealing side, said gasket structure and said specifiedmounting thereof providing a seal which is pulled loose-first at oneside edge of the gasketfrom the surface against which said gasketsealingly abuts and which seal is thereafter progressively separatedfrom said surface so that the initial force required is only that neededto break the magnetic attraction over a fraction of the effective areaof the magnets, the gasket being peeled off of said surface, wherefrom arelatively large magnetic force may be used to maintain the seal withoutexcessive force being necessary to break said seal.

4. A structure as defined in claim 3, and retaining means for saidmagnets integrally connected with the sealing additional side of thegasket comprising a generally channel cross-sectional shape betweenwhich and the sealing side of the gasket the magnets are held.

5. A structure as defined in claim 3, and retaining means for saidmagnets comprising magnet-embracing portions connected to the inner faceof said gasket sealing side.

6. A sealing gasket adapted to be used between a door member and acasing member-the latter having an opening which is closed by said door,and adapted to be secured to one of said members and to be compressedbetween said members to abut against the other member when the door isclosed, said gasket having longitudinally extending sides, two of thelatter being generally parallel when said gasket is in uncompressedcondition and one of the latter sides being definitely narrower than theother of said two sides, the wider of said sides being strained to agreater degree than the narrower of said sides when the gasket iscompressed, and magnetic means carried by one of the other of saidlongitudinally extending sides, said gasket structure and said specifiedmounting thereof providing a seal which is pulled loose-first at oneside edge of the gasket-from the surface against which said gasketsealingly abuts and which seal is thereafter progressively separatedfrom said surface so that the initia1 force required is only that neededto break the magnetic attraction over a fraction of the effective areaof the magnets, the gasket being peeled 01f of said surface, wherefrom arelatively large magnetic force may be used to maintain the seal withoutexcessive force being necessary to break said seal.

7. A casing member having an entrance opening, a door member for closingthe casing, a sealing gasket positioned on one of said members andadapted to abut the other member to seal said opening when said door isclosed, said 6 gasket having two face portions and two side edgeportions, one of said latter portions being definitely wider than theother, one of said face portions normally lying parallel and close tothe member on which the gasket is positioned,

said gasket being secured to said last-recited member at least along oneedge of one of said side edge portions, the other of said face portionsbeing adapted to abut against the other member when the door is closedand said gasket being releasable initially at one edge of thelastrecited face portion and thereafter progressively releasable acrossthe width of the face from said edge toward the other edge thereof.

8. A casing member having an entrance opening, a door member for closingthe casing, a sealing gasket positioned on one of said members andadapted to abut the other member to seal said opening when said door isclosed, said gasket having two face portions and two side portions, oneof said latter protions being definitely wider than the other, one ofsaid face portions normally lying parallel and close to the member onwhich the gasket is positioned, said gasket being secured to saidlast-recited member at least along one edge of the wider of said sideedge portions, the other of said face portions being adapted to abutagainst the other member when the door is closed and said gasket beingreleasable initially at that edge of the last-recited face portion(which is furthest from the hinged edge of the door) and thereafterprogressively releasable from said edge toward the other edge of saidface portion.

9. A gasket adapted to be used for sealing a hinged door member adjacentits edges against a casing member surrounding an entrance openingclosable by said door, said gasket being mounted on one of said membersand comprising two face portions and two side portions, one of said faceportions normally lying closely adjacent said one member on which saidgasket is mounted and the other face portion being adapted to abutagainst the other member when said door member is closed, a plurality ofmagnets within said gasket having attraction for said other member, oneedge of said other face portion of said gasket being movable furtherthan the other edge thereof from said one member whereby when said dooris drawn open said other member is separated from said other edge beforeit is separated from said one edge.

LLOYD L. ANDERSON. NATHAN S. WARING. ANTON W. KORB.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

